Thursday, August 8, 2013

This past weekend went by in an instant as I hung out with
family and friends back home in El Paso, TX/Juarez, Mexico, but more
importantly, presented Vicissitude at
the El Paso Plaza Classic Film Festival as part of their “Local Flavor”
selection.

The
screening took place at the Museum of Art in downtown El Paso. It was nice to
check out some of the very impressive pieces of art they had on display. A good
number of people showed up to the El Paso Energy Auditorium at the museum to watch the
documentary; it was nice to see so much support from close family and friends,
some cast members, Kickstarter donors, as well as strangers (some who are now
friends).

Optimum
Exposure TV, a start-up video and photography company, came out to photograph
the event and do a short interview for their website and YouTube channel.

Interview in English

Interview in Spanish

Sunday
I had the opportunity to meet a few students who traveled from different cities
of the United States to attend the festival. I was approached by my friend
Oscar Garza, who is a writer for TheProspector and a Plaza Classic Film Club Facilitator, to talk to them about
the process of making the documentary, some of the challenges, and many other
things. He then invited me to watch The
Third Man (1949) on beautiful 35mm at the Kendle Kidd Performance Hall. It
would’ve been a sin to leave El Paso without catching a classic flick at the
festival.

It
was a great weekend and the lack of sleep was totally worth it. Being home this
past weekend for both business and pleasure made me realize I am blessed to
have many individuals around me who support and love me, but push me to be the
best I can be. Oprah once said, “Surround yourself with only people that are
going to lift you higher.” I try to stand by those words on a consistent basis.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Hello
friends, I hope everyone’s doing well. I am actually feeling somewhat
melancholic as I type this blogpost because I’m sitting at my last class at
Full Sail University. Thanks to this master’s program, I started this blog and
have been blessed to meet new people through here. I want to thank my 300
unique visitors and the over 4,000 people who have viewed my blog this past
year. But anyway, as a 1st AD I worked with once said, “There’s no
crying in film.”

All
three of them spoke to students and guests about how they got started in the
industry, what other films they have worked on, and the overall experience
working on the Jerry Bruckheimer film.

They
all agreed that one of the most challenging aspects of working on this film was
shooting in the middle of the desert in Arizona under infernal conditions, as
well as experiencing some sandstorms occasionally. The shoot took nine months
to complete and took place in five different states. For Todd, he said the most
challenging thing he had to do was a “yo-yo” stunt while riding a horse.

The
panel lasted a couple of hours, and of course, someone in the audience had to
ask them towards the end what their thoughts on the box-office results are. For
those of you who don’t know, the film hasn’t been doing too well considering
that the budget was $215 million. However, it is still being released in other
countries and I mean, most of a summer "blockbuster's" profit is made overseas. Ann-Maree has seen it five times and loves it more each time she
sees it. They are all proud of the end product and encouraged the crowd to show
some love and go see it. Based on everything I learned at this panel, I am
definitely taking some time to go see it and I’m looking forward to it. If you
have seen it, what are your thoughts on the film?

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About Me

Ricardo Ramos resides in Los Angeles and works as a Story Producer in non-scripted television. He graduated with a bachelors of science in Film and a masters of science in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University and is an active member of the Producers Guild of America.
Since relocating to La La Land in 2013, Ricardo's latest TV credits include “The Riveras” for NBC Universo, “MasterChef” season eight for FOX, "Holy Foley" for WWE, "Teenage Newlyweds" and "Married At First Sight: The First Year" for FYI, among others.
Besides working in TV, Ricardo has also created original content that includes a documentary titled “Vicissitude” about the drug-related violence in his hometown of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and an instructional video for a start-up app called LightsApp. In his time off, Ricardo runs at the Hollywood Bowl with November Project, plays tennis, volunteers with GLAAD, or is having an IPA at Arclight Theatre.